A Tough Conversation About Your Nonprofit Development Director

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor
Image of a laptop and paperwork showing a nonprofit CEO's work area and trying to decide what to do about their development director and about getting their nonprofit to the next level.

Hard truth many nonprofit EDs need to face: The Development Director who got you to your current philanthropy level might not be the one who can get you to your next…

 

And, it’s ok.

 

There’s a path through this sticky situation. I help my clients through it all the time.

 

Embrace change. There’s a different skillset needed now to grow even more.

 

What I mean is, now:

🪴 there’s likely a larger team to manage

🪴 decisions where to align hours with dollars are imperative

🪴 major donors need more out of investment-level conversations

🪴 gen-ops dollars will be more important to fuel growth

🪴 strategy, planning, and revenue models drive everything

 

But, too often what got that person the DD role when they were smaller?

“They’re a good grant writer.”

“They’re a people-person.”

“They have a heart for our mission.”

“They came up through programs.”

“They are an excellent writer.”

 

These are awesome…but they might not have the training or the skills needed to fund your organization’s next level of existence. 

 

Is there still a place for them on your team? Maybe.

Is there an option to invest in next-level training? Maybe.

Might it be time to face the music and hire a next-level fundraiser to lead your team? Maybe.

 

If you're in this situation and want help creating your next level fundraising team, just apply here for help.

Whenever you’re ready, here are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients about attracting larger gen-ops dollars and diversifying revenue.

🍎 Grab FREE Guides + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the sector’s misconceptions, equip your board, and shift your team into High-ROI fundraising.

📈 Work with me to diversify revenue & secure the gen-ops gifts you need to grow. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from investment-level donors a bigger part of your budget, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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